times remembered

Sorry for the random notes before, but eventually we recount Ella's birth...hence the title of the post. Well, it might be time for the mutt to get a special Christmas present this year. As I last wrote, I took Charm to the train station on Sunday night. Unfortunately, when we were heading out the door, Gage got a wild hair (or a cold hair as he later found out), to run out the door. And because he is so well-trained, he didn't come to us when we called. So, because Charmy-do had to catch her train, I took off to St. Paul with Charmaine and wished Dawn the best. About 20 minutes later, a neighbor named Sue called my phone, since my number was on his collar, and said he was sitting in the passenger seat of her car! Thanks to the caring neighbor, Gage got home safe and sound, but he wasn't in good standing in Dad's eyes.

It is still up for debate why Ella is sick, but she has had a rough go at it the last few days. It started the day after her birthday on Sunday when she had a funny stomach. Then, last night she actually threw up half way through the night. So at her 12-month appointment tonight, the doc chalked it up as a combination of her new teeth coming in and a a small stomach flu. So after the quick check-up, she is on her way! She is in the 72nd percentile for weight at 22.5 lbs, the 86th percentile for length at 18.75", and the 97th percentile for head circumference (Thanks Grandpa & Uncle Hugh!!). Onto year #2 for baby #1.

I am looking forward to happy hour I will have with my brother Hugh on Thursday and an co-worker of mine, Dan, from Ergotron on Monday. It'll be interesting to see what they have been up to in terms of work and freelance projects. We also are still debating on our situation this weekend for the Springer-side Christmas since bring Gage with us would be a trick if we were to stay at someone's house.

Being that I usually set aside a Memory section in each post, consider this that section. Since I know this will slip from our memory sooner than we know it, I wanted to jot-down how Ella's actually birth day, and night, and day went down. As most things in the past go, Dawn could recall this better than I could. So Dawn (hi!) will be stepping in to help me recall! Dawn's due date was December 14th. And on that particular wintery Sunday, Dawn's water broke at that cold afternoon at 3:15. After watching all the pregnancy shows that Dawn watched, I was banking on a high-speed race to the hospital, running red lights, and possibly a police escort. Well, considering all the other "excitement" we had for the remainder of our hospital stay, I am glad we didn't start off on that foot. We slowly gathered our things and headed off to Fairview Ridges. Even though Dawn wasn't far along, they admitted us early because a bad snow storm was coming in. We got to the hospital at around 4:30pm. As the afternoon and night went along, Dawn slowly went along but no major progressions. They started a pill to help induce at 6pm, with the next dose to come around midnight. And by around ten, Dawn was in quite a bit of pain with the contractions, but we still had to get to a 4 before an epidural was possible. She was given pitosen and a round of drugs the nurses called "the cocktail", or something to that effect (basically to make me woozy so I just wouldn't care about the pain! Not sure I liked it, but it worked; I relaxed alot which made the process go smoother). Turns out I didn't need the second round of meds that would help me dilate, so we waited out the night until we were ready to push. I slept a little bit throughout but was mainly on guard to help Dawn. By 3:30 Monday, the 15th, Dawn was ready to push. She had gotten a epidural around 1am since the anesthesiologist was still on call.

So from about 4:00am till 6:15am, Dawn pushed. We had a precious nurse named Jacee, who helped Dawn along in the process. Although she coached Dawn along saying she was progressing and more dilated, but it wasn't happening fast. Truth was, Ella was not "fitting" quite right, so no matter how hard she pushed, it wasn't going to happen. She had no visible "plates" to afix the vacuum to (said our doctor - are we talking about my child here?) and her head was just a little crooked. Dawn had some slight issues with blood pressure during the labor, and since she wasn't progressing, our doctor, Michelle, thought it would be best to do a c-section. So we got dressed up in our scrubs and headed to the operating room. Before Dawn went in (as the pregnancy shows told me), I needed to wait outside the operating room until they had prepped Dawn accordingly. As we headed down to the OR, the epidural started to fade. Unfortunatley, that wait ended up being longer than I expected. As I (Dawn) entered the OR, they tried to readminister my epidural drugs, with no success. As I contracted, Doc Michele pinched my skin to test my numbness...needless to say, I love my doc but I swore at her worse than my sisters ever heard growing up in girl fights! The doc said they'd try one more thing and if that didn't work, they'd have to put me under. Another pinch, another swear word, and he decided it was time for a little nap. Turns out my line had come out of my spine (I apologize for lack of medical lingo!) and it was a lost cause. I just wanted my baby! The last thing I heard coming from Jacy the nurse was, "You're going to feel like you're choking a little". Great. Next thing I new I awoke in recovery sorer than any awful double track practice day and without voice. Skip to Billy's recollection! Well, I waited in that little room for longer than planned. Jacee ended coming back out of the OR and giving me the scoop on Dawn's situation. Dawn had to be put under completely in order to deliver little beaner.

Between the lack of sleep and excitement, I didn't know what to expect next (and little did I know it was going to be a whirl wind). Jacee came out of the OR about 15 minutes later with Ella in her arms and no word on Dawn. I assumed they would update me on her status when they were ready, so I let it be. After all, I had my baby girl in my arms. Jacee and I and Ella took the elevator back up for the delivery floor of the hospital to go back to our delivery room. Ella was put into the nursery as I moved our stuff from the delivery wing to the postnatal wing. After getting settled and calling Darcy, Keli, and my M&D, I went to check on Ella in the nursery. Seeing her for the second time was unreal. After a short stay and holding her again, I went to check on Dawn's status. Between those unanswered questions at the nurses station and seeing Ella in the nursery, Dawn was finally wheeled in to our room. Dawn got to hold Ella at 10am that morning and we were together for the first time as a family.

To break it down, Ella was born at 6:45 am weighing 8.5 lbs and stretching out to be 21.6 inches long. 4 days were spent in that 'spital room and Ella spent a good amount of time in the bili-bed because of her slight jaundice. We left the morning of the 18th for the apartment at Cinnamon Ridge. Sleepless nights were had by all after that, but it was well worth it! Dawn was a champ during the whole excursion and I wouldn't have survived without her.

Song: NeedToBreathe - Something Beautiful (you can tell we totally dig NeedToBreathe and I like to mix it up when it comes to my music selection, but this was a tune Dawn listened to quite a bit when preggers, so I had to post it.)

To conclude, Happy 1st Birthday Ella Bean! You are such a big girl and we love you very much!